


Ebb and Flow

by MouseMinionDuckLover



Category: X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Character Study, The violence and major character death happen in later chapters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:08:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29171622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MouseMinionDuckLover/pseuds/MouseMinionDuckLover
Summary: Nightcrawler/Kurt and Rogue/Marie drabbles, each chapter explores a different emotion. Character study. Also this is an exercise to see if I can restrain myself and write short for once. Plenty of sibling dynamics and fluff with some angst depending on the subject emotion.
Relationships: Nightcrawler & Rogue
Kudos: 1





	1. Envy

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to refer to the characters by their legal names for the most part but I'll use their codenames when appropriate.  
> This chapter is about Envy. Figured I'd start with the easy one and get it out of the way.

Envy is a sin.  
That right there should tell you which of the two of us is addressing you, not that it should be difficult for you, most can tell just by looking. After all, I am taller.  
Entschuldige mich, that was a bad joke.

Getting back to the subject at hand.  
What I envy my dear sister for should not come as a surprise to you. Yes, we are both Mutants, but dear Marie can pass for Human easily. The reason she and I cause heads to turn are vastly different. Though if you will permit me a moment's vanity, I should like to think some people take a second glance because they like what they see.  
But I am digressing again.

On all accounts she is exactly what she appears to be, a healthy and lovely young lady from America's deep south. Myself, on the other hand, am hardly what leaps to mind when you think of what a modern young German man must look like.

And all I have to say, to those of you whose notion involves lederhosen, there's a special place in Hell for people like you... stop looking so offended, it was another joke.  
Maybe.

Majority, I am happy for her. I love Marie and want her to be safe and content. I am glad that, barring an accident or an attack, she could stroll through life with none the wiser that she is one of us.  
Mind you, she would never do such a thing. Our mother taught her to have more pride than that, but I am pleased she has the option without the need of an Image Inducer. 

Trust me, it is nerve wracking when your life and wellbeing depend on a tiny device prone to glitches and is most definitely not waterproof. You never realize how often your wrist is in danger of getting wet until it imperative that doesn't.

I cannot really blame ordinary people for their reactions towards me, after all, they are only mortal. But so am I, and there are days it hurts more than others.

I adore children and it is painful when they are frightened of me, and I am left with no way to reassure them, except to relieve them of my company.

Teenagers, ah, they are a different matter altogether.  
Usually they are too comfortable around me, asking very personal questions that I would not answer even if my closest friends were the ones doing the asking.  
As bold as my reputation would have you believe me to be, I assure you, even I can be made to blush. I sometimes become concerned their parents are not keeping a close enough eye on them, with such vivid imaginations.

Elders, more often than not, glare at me. Rather the same way they do boys who let their pants hang low, or girls with many piercings. Mein Gott, what makes them think I would choose this? But I suppose they wonder why the teenagers dye their hair florescent colors so... Ach.

All that I can bare, but what stings the most, especially on the hard days, are the ones who ignore me.  
I don't have to be the Professor to know what you are thinking, and I am not being hypocritical. There is a difference between not being noticed because you fit in, and being purposefully ignored because people are made uncomfortable by the mere sight of you.

I am here, I have a right to exist, to be happy and safe at the same time. And I should not have to choose between the two.

Please, all I ask is this. Give it some thought as you walk out your front door every day to go to work or school. How different would it be... if you were me?

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Bet ya can guess what Ah'm going to say in one try.  
Yeah darlin', Ah envy Kurt the everyday ability to touch others. Ain't a secret, not by a long shot.

Sometimes, Ah get mad at em for it.  
Now Ah know that don't sound fair, but ya'll heard him out, now it's my turn. So just hush and listen.

He flaunts it, mind ya, he don't mean to, he can't help it.  
Kurt's just the affectionate type. Always putting his arm around folks, shaking their hands, heck even kissing them in greeting (it's a European thing, Ah guess). Mostly he don't even realize he's doing it.

Thankfully my hair is safe. Our fuzzy lil imp is always playing with it. Ah'll start the day with it down and after one run-in with my blue brother, bang! He's got it braided or some kinda fancy twisted up mess, he saw one of them starlets he loves so much wearing to a premiere.

Don't even surprise the others anymore. Logan might smirk, Ororo might mention having Kurt do hers like it if it comes out particularly nice, but that's it. 

It'd be nice if Ah could enjoy it, but Ah can't. Makes me a nervous wreck worrying he's gonna slip and accidentally touch my face or neck. He's careful and nimble but let's face it, the boy's got big hands and Ah live in terror of putting him in the Medical Ward.

Ah know he don't mean no harm, he loves me and the feeling is completely returned. Kurt just wants everyone to feel included and cared for. He hates seeing anyone left out, even if it's for their own good and the good of others. 

But damn it, Ah can't help how Ah feel neither!  
Ah'm jealous, scared, irritated and Lord knows frustrated. Not to mention guilt ridden. Ah know Ah aught to tell em to stop, but it's the only social touching he can do with me, and Kurt don't take rejection well even when it's not personal.

Ah just can't stand the thought of ever breaking his heart, so Ah go on risking breaking the rest of em. Makes me feel like a piss-poor sister either way, let me tell ya.

Ah wonder all the time, ya know? What it's like.  
What Logan's stubble feels like brushing your cheek when he kisses ya good morning. Or the difference between Ororo and Kitty's skin, both look so soft but different textures, Ah can't help but wonder how though.

And most of all, if Ah could choose only one thing to feel in all my life... and don't none of ya'll dare ever tell em this! Ah swear! ...  
...Kurt's fur. There, Ah said it. And like Ah said, don't none of ya'll repeat that! Lord Almighty, the hazing Ah'd get from Logan alone, Hell nah!

But yeah, Ah wonder about that the most. Does it feel sleek like a cat's? Or more like velvet? Maybe stiff like a short haired dog's? Not that Ah'd know what any of them feel like either.

Now ya'll understand why Ah don't just ask em. Ah can't think of a way to word it without it coming out insulting. Comparing my own brother to an animal? Ah was raised better than that. Destiny come back from the grave just to line me out for it.

Try it sometime.  
Try going a full twenty-four hours without letting any body touch ya or touching any body ya self. Bet ya don't make it ten minutes afor ya forget or accidentally brush up on somebody at the grocery store or something. Ain't the cake walk people suppose it is, it's Hell on Earth.

Imagine living with the knowledge, that someday everybody ya love will have passed on, and ya never actually got to touch em. Not even once.  
Ya'll just meditate on that a while Sugah.


	2. Happy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter Kurt and Marie make observations about each other and how the emotion of happiness affects them.

An interesting thing about happiness, it has many faces. One person can have countless ways of expressing the emotion, and the more of their ways you witness, the more you learn about the individual.

For example, did you know my sister embarrasses easily? She does. If you do not believe me mein freuds, just tell her how pretty her eyes are when she smiles. Mention how they change color with her mood. They become a more vivid shade of green and the gold flecks in them stand out. I guarantee you, she will blush so fiercely that the freckles peppering the bridge of her nose will all but disappear.

Were you aware she has a very unusual laugh? Mein Gott, it does not match her appearance at all! But I like it, no one else laughs like Marie.

What does it sound like? Well, to be blunt... imagine a chipmunk with a sore throat crossed with the sound of popcorn popping. Ja, I have given the description some thought, ha, ha! She wasn't exactly flattered the first time I described it that way in front of her. But it is my duty to tease her, that's what brothers are for.

People smile differently depending on the type of happy they are.  
There's Marie's sleepy smile, sweet and subtle. It makes her look like a little girl. That's our mother's favorite. She told me once, in a rare and precious unguarded moment. 

Remy's favorite is her amused-but-trying-not-to-show-it smirk. He and I have been on the receiving end of that particular one on countless occasions.

My favorite is the rarest of all, her truly unbridled smile of joy. It's brighter than any spotlight I've occupied in my life as a performer, and much warmer. I crave that smile, I work hard for it, it is worth all the effort.

For, while I enjoyed a childhood shielded from the majority of the world's evils by the love and acceptance of my adopted family, my dear sister was shunned and blatantly abandoned by her birth family. Turned out into a harsh reality no child should have to face alone. She does not trust or love easily and smiles even less.

You have perhaps heard the phrase "light heart, light step."? With Marie it is a literal thing. When her spirits are up, she unconsciously activates her ability to fly, just a little. It adds a grace to her stride when walking and she hovers if standing still. 

I like to not say anything about it, unlike the others who will politely point out that she is suddenly closer to the ceiling than the floor. Instead, I gently push her back down by her shoulders and grin at her. She hates that.

Why do it then? If you feel the need to ask such a thing, than I can only assume you are ether an only child, or you grew up in a very strict household.  
Have I not already said, it is my duty to tease her? 

*** *** *** *** ***

Some say ya see someone's true face when they're mad. Nuh uh Sugah, Ah say ya begin to really seem em when they're happy.

It doesn't matter that we missed the first half of each others lives. When ya live in the same household and share a familiar bond for a lil more than a decade, ya pick up on the little bitty quarks that make a person who they are.

My best example, Kurt's tail.   
It's a dead give away to whatever he's truly feeling. He was raised as a performer and cause of that, he can put on a convincing act for what ever the situation needs him to be. He could pull the wool over the eyes of the world's best Detectives, providing they don't know about the tail thing.

When he's happy it curls and uncurls and swishes all over the place. Mind you, it's s never completely still, but when he's feeling good, it really goes.   
What's that Sugah? No, Ah would NOT say he 'wags' it! The Hell's the matter with ya? My brother's a man, not a basset hound. I'll let that slide, cause ya don't know any better. Anyway...

Another thing about em, 'jumping for joy' is literal with Kurt.   
Ah don't rightly know if it's because of his naturally high energy levels or his acrobatic training, or maybe both, but ya give him good cause to rejoice and he's bouncing all over the place like a dang super ball. Good thing the mansion is so big and old, plenty of places for him to ricochet off of without breaking anything.

One time he got himself caught in one of the chandeliers. All them little bitty crystals stuck in his curly hair and civilian clothes, took me and Ororo almost an hour to get em loose. He was still ecstatic once he was free. 

We asked him why he was so giddy and he told us a friend of his from his circus days had beat cancer. Damn good reason Ah'd say. We celebrated way too late that night and had classes to teach first thing the next morning, but the jubilant look on my brother's face was worth all the hangovers in history all at once.

Kurt's got several kinds of happy.   
There's your standard happy, what Ah like to call his default setting. Sudden joy, that's what got em stuck in the chandelier.   
Relieved, which is mostly a post-mission-no-one's-dead kinda thing. Job-well-done content, Ah see that one the most after chores around the mansion or after the classes he's responsible for teaching. And lastly, downright mischievous. Don't tell em, cause Ah don't want to encourage him, but that one is my favorite. 

When my brother is causing playful chaos, his eyes light up and his laugh, Lawd that laugh of his! Ah suppose he's told ya what he thinks about mine? His is just as ridiculous, it's a down right cackle! He says it's the accent what does it, but really now? Can a laugh have an accent? Ah told em he sounds like that witch outta some old Disney movie. (Call me a sick chipmunk, hmph!)

Happiness is a contagious condition with Kurt. He likes to be happy and wants others to feel good too. He's good at it, always seems to know what's needed to cheer ya up. It's like an extra power only he has. 

Some of it's his personality, some of it his need to be liked, and the rest is his upbringing as an entertainer. Been a time in his life, where whether or not he'd get to eat, depended on his success in making large groups of strangers smile. So it's a three way combo of nature, damage and training. 

All that adds up to a man who always seems to know when to use levity, a kind word, advice, a kind gesture, just listen or give ya space. My brother is happiest when helping others, no question.


End file.
